Wednesday, April 26, 2017

My
FM (KBIG, 104.3 FM) was up a half point to 5.7 from February and a full
point since the holiday ratings period, making it the dominant radio
force in Los Angeles once again, according to the March Nielsen Ratings
released last week. My FM has been moving up every month since the
holidays and won the ratings every month in the quarter.

Right
behind, though, is The Wave (94.7 FM) at 5.5, which has also seen
tremendous growth over the quarter. KIIS (102.7 FM) and KRTH (101.1 FM)
came in tied for third at 4.9, with KOST (103.5 FM) rounding out the
top-5 with a 4.4.

With
the exception of Univision’s KLVE (107.5 FM), the top-ten stations
sound like a true horserace between the two dominant essential radio
monopolies, iHeart Radio and CBS. It’s kind of interesting to see:

iHeart
(KBIG) followed by CBS (KTWV), iHeart (KIIS), CBS (KRTH), iHeart
(KOST), Univision (KLVE), CBS (KNX, 1070 AM), iHeart (KFI, 640 AM), CBS
(KCBS-FM, 93.1), iHeart (KYSR, 98.7 FM). Combined, all the iHeart
stations account for 25.8 percent of the listening audience and CBS
accounts for 21.9 percent. The next highest total for any company is
Univision with a total of 10.1 percent, while every other company is at
3.9 or lower. Tell me again that iHeart and CBS don’t have too much
power in this market and shouldn’t be broken up ...

KNX
is the highest-rated AM station in town again with a 3.6 share. KFI is
right behind with 3.4. There’s not another AM station on the list,
though, until you get to KSPN (710 AM), which earns a 1.1 share of the
audience. That means AM is dead, right?

No,
it actually means current programming on AM is generally bad, and AM
has the potential for growth. Showing that music can make a difference
on the oldest broadcast band, KSUR (1260 AM) came in with a 0.3 share.
Not impressed? Consider that the station had no promotions, a very
limited signal, no DJs, and was only on the air playing oldies ten days
or so during the March ratings period that ran 3/2 - 3/29. I’d call that
impressive, and it shows the direction AM stations should take.

The
Sound (KSWD, 100.3 FM) doesn’t really compete directly against KLOS
(95.5 FM) any more, but the comparisons still get made. This time The
Sound (2.3) beat KLOS (2.1). The alternative race was won again by Alt
98.7, which came in a full point and almost ten places ahead of the
format originator KROQ (106.7 FM).

When
Emmis shut down country KZLA years ago, they did it because country
doesn’t get ratings in Los Angeles. Saul Levine didn’t believe that then
and certainly does not believe it now ... His Go Country 105 (KKGO)
earned a 2.5 share and remains the most listened-to country station in
America.

And
just to show you that ratings can be looked at in many different ways,
while KBIG was the big winner in the “six plus” numbers I’ve already
mentioned (listeners aged six and over tuned to a station between the
hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight), it was KIIS-FM that had more actual
listeners: 3,762,300 vs. KBIG’s 3.744,400.

Those
numbers reflect “cumulative listeners” who tune in for at least five
minutes during a particular day-part, usually a three-hour period. Why
the higher rating for KBIG? KBIG listeners stay tuned to the station for
a longer period of time.